Dual-indicia container



Sept. 21, 1954 T. E. CLAGETT DUAL-INDICIA CONTAINER Filed March 24, 1952INVENTOR Zones 7 (24 677 BY way & m

- ATTORNEY Patented Sept. 21, 1954 UNlTED stares PATENT DUAL-INDICIACONTAINER Thomas E". Clagctt, Saginaw; Mich. AppfieatiomMmrch 24, 1952SerialiNi1a278,28il

5 Claims. I

This invention relates to new and useful immovements in milked-makingmugs. It. provides means in. connection with the saiddrinking mug to.induce children. to. consume the entire contents of. the mug in: orderthat the may see am interesting; changing. facial expression. on thefront transparent wall portion, such: as ton instance, a-pictureotafrowning or. laughing clowns ma relatively centered tocreate the mostdesired efliect At no time has a; drinking mug provided for suchpleasant changeable pictures that could stir the interest of childrenenough to coax complete consumption of the milk contained in the mug. Myinvention is so? constructed that achild can he relied upon: to drinkthe milk with little encouragement or coaxing from another person.

An object of the present invention is to provide a container having dualindicia or pictures thereon, wherein one of; the ind-icia is emphasizedwhen the container is full or fluid andthe other ihdicia is emphasized.when-A the container is empty..

Another obj ect of the invention-is to'providea containerhavingdifierent colored labels or pictures on. the forward. wallthereof, wherein. one face-is-accentuatedtwhen thecontainer iafulllandtheother face is accentuated when the container is: empty..

Another object-oil the present invention is to provide a colored plasticmug: with a;- handle atflxed thereto which canbe easily usedby archild,and: an interesting changeable facial expression onthe front-wallwhichwilllstimulataalchild that ordinarily does not like. mills toconsume the entire contentsiot-the mug inorderthat-the clowns face. willsmile.- and' not I frown. g

A. further objectofi thepresent invention is to producea mug. oil thecharacter. described in which. themaximum simplicity. of; constructionissecured. l l g According,- to the present irwention; a novel containeris provided having a substantially translucent colored.- wall. portion.and opposed thereto a-transparentwall portion bearing dual indiciaresponsive to the level of a substantially opaque fluid in saidcontainer.

For further comprehension of the invention, and of the objects" andadvantages thereof, reference is madetothe followingrdescription andaccompanying drawings, and to the appended claims-in which the variousnovel features ofv the invention'are more particularlvset forth'a Themventive'idea is capable oilreceivlng a variety of mechanicalexpressions, one 011 which; for" the purpose oi: illustration, is shown:in the accompanying drawings, in which-- Figure 1 is a front elevationalview of a-muz showing at frowning,- clownsface.

Figure 2 is a front. elevational view of showing a. laughing: clown'sface.

Figure 3 is a front. elevational view of amug showing both a frowningclowns face and: a laughing clownrs facet Figure. 4% is a. full crosssection taken on the line IV-I=V of Figure 3- and: showing the. translucent back wall of thedrinking mug and: the transparent front Wallhaving the contrasting colored faces-thereon.

Referring withmore particularity to the drawingaFigure 1' shows'a mug 1-having a frowning clowns face H, or other indicia. such as: alabel,drawing, or: picture painted the same-color as the substantiallytranslucent rear wall portion ll. Figure 2shows the mug having, asmiling elowns face l3, or other inditziapainted white,- the same colorof milk I6, for example or any colorthat approximates the color at thefluid to be used inthe container.v It is to be understoodthat variouscolors can. be used for the frowning clowns face, but red hasbeenselected for illustrative purposes because itrendersthe face moreViv-id. and interesting: tochildren Ifchocolate milk, or some otherlike-coloredfluid were used in themug the smilingclown s face would bepainted to.- contrast with: the color of thatfluid. For example, itorange juice were to be used in the mug, the smiling clownisface: wouldbe painted. with orange color.

Whenwthe-mug contains milh thewhite-smiling clowns iace will-berenderedinvisible against the white background and mil-k willrenderljnrvisiblethe substantially red translucent rear wall portion, therebyemphasizing;- the frowning clownis face. As the contents; of' themug arebeing emptied-,the "red frowning clowns' face will lee-graduallyrendered invisible against them];- stantially red translucent rear wa-ll portion: and the white smiling, clowns face will:stand; out andbecome: increasingly visible; If milkis' left at various level'si' 'inthemug, interesting; fascinating and changeable expression-s will appearon the fioritwall-portibn F5 01? the mug; When thecontents of the mugare completely-i emptied, the white smiling clowns face will become thedominant expression. g l I Figure 3' shows a mug having both: a frowningclownsiface' II. and a smilingclow'ns-face l3 on the front wall portionI5 thereof,- The mughas a handle 14 affixed tothe side. thereof,. but.the handle can, be. placed in other positions relative te the mug oromitted entirely if! For example, if the mug were constructed substan amug parent portion of the container.

'sented in Fig. 1.

tially in the shape of a pail, the handle could be aflixed to the top ofthe mug.

Summarizing, it will be seen that tumbler, mug, or glass is prepared insuch a manner that if a plane were .passed through the longitudinal axisof the container one side of the container so-divided is colored andopaque or translucent. The other side or wall is made transparent. Uponthe transparent half of the container wall non-coinciding patterns orindicia in two contrasting colors are arranged as shown in Figure 3. Itwill be noted that Fig. '3 combines the indicia shown in Figs. 1 and 2and that the arrangement is such that no portion of the indicia overlapsor is superimposed upon the other indicia. The indicia may be printed onthe transparent wall or may be transferred thereto by means such asdecalcomania. As shown in Fig. 3 all of the indicia are arranged uponthe trans- One color is represented by the indicia appearing in Fig. 2and the other color, corresponding to the colored opaque or translucentside of the glass is repre- When the glass is filled with milk, forexample, that portion of the mug having the painted indicia shown inFig. 2 cannot readily be discerned because the color selected for thatindicia is white and blends with the color 'of the milk so that milk andindicia of Fig. 2 become a solid white background. A contrasting indicia(say red for illustrative purposes) as represented in Fig. 1,predominates because it contrasts strikingly with the white backgroundof the milk. As the milk is consumed the opaque or translucent redcolored side of the glass becomes visible through the transparent sideof the container and the formerly discernible red indicia or patternblends with the red background of the glass so that the prominence ofthe red pattern is lost by blending with the now red background. Now,with the container empty, the contrasting white indicia is accentuatedagainst 1 a generally red background.

principle of the invention may be carried out in diverse ways, but forthe purpose of the instant disclosure and accompanying drawings a glassor plastic mug has been selected as the subject upon which the faces areproduced. In other aspects the invention comprehends the employment notonly of the various means descibed, but of equivalent means forperforming the recited function. As might be presumed, therepresentation of the faces on the front wall portion is applied bycoating, painting, impressing, etching, or otherwise. Moreover, thearticle upon which the faces are portrayed is not limited to a mug. Itmay be any other type of container, bottle or vessel. It

may be a hollow cube with an opening for milk or some other fluid; or itmay be made of some material similar to glass or plastic. The articlemay be triangular, rectangular or any other'shape so as to comply withthe basic features of the invention.

The substantiallytranslucent colored wall portion of the container ispreferably translucent so that when the mug is empty, light enteringthrough the rear wall will help blend and perfect the like-colored faceon the front wall. A somewhat more opaque rear wall portion is alsooperative in the present invention, but would not be as satisfactory asthe substantially translucent rear wall portion. By dual indicia, I meanthat any kind of markings can be positioned on the transparent forwardwall, for example, labels,

drawings, pictures and the like. The substantially opaque fluid insidethe container can be of various types. Fluids in a liquid state arepreferred, but other fluids, such as dense gases and the like, willachieve similar effects.

Various modifications may be made in the device of the present inventionwithout departing from the spirit or scope thereof and it is to beunderstood that I limit myself only as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A container having a substantially translucent colored wall portion,and opposed thereto a transparent wall portion bearing non-coincidingdual indicia, responsive to the level of a substantially opaque fluid insaid container one of said dual indicia substantially the same color assaid translucent wall portion, and the other of said indiciasubstantially the color of said opaque fluid.

2. A dual indicia drinking mug for substantially opaque fluidscomprising: a substantially cylindrical container, the rear wall of saidcontainer being of colored translucent material and the front Wall beingof transparent material; two substantially opaque patterns upon saidtransparent wall of contrasting import, one of said patterns beingsubstantially the color of said rear wall, the other of said patternsbeing substantially a color contrasting to the color of said rear walland corresponding to the color of said opaque fluid.

3. Adrinking mug for substantially opaque fluids, the rear wall of whichis composed of a substantially translucent colored material and theforward wall being of transparent material, a frowning clowns face ofthe same color as the rear wall arranged and fixed upon said forwardwall, and a laughing clowns face fixed on said transparent wall of thecolor corresponding to the color of the said opaque fluid to be used insaid mug and of a contrasting color from said colored rear wall.

4. A handle attached drinking mug for substantially opaque fluids, therear wall of which is composed of a substantially opaque coloredmaterial and the forward wall being of transparent material; a frowningclowns face of the same color as the rear wallarranged and fixed uponsaid forward wall, and a laughing clowns face arranged on saidtransparent wall in a color contrasting with that of the colorcomprising said frowning clowns face and corresponding in color to thesaid opaque fluid. I

5. In a drinking mug for milk the combination including; a transparentwall on one side of said mug; a red colored wall opposite saidtransparent wall on the other side of said mug and visible through saidtransparent panel; two pat;- terns upon said transparent wall, one ofsaid patterns being red and the other of said patterns being white, thesaid red pattern being visible when said mug is filled with milk and thesaid white pattern being visible when said mug is empty.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS MooreDec. 22, 1942

